Sixers' Nick Nurse discusses keys to slowing Knicks star Jalen Brunson

NEW YORK -- The Philadelphia 76ers ousted the Boston Celtics with a historic Game 7 win as they rallied from a 3-1 deficit. They had some serious challenges in that series in terms of defending two legitimate scorers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

The Sixers will now have to find a way to slow down New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson in Round 2.

Brunson, standing at just 6-foot-1, is one of the elite scorers in the game as he comes up with so many impressive finishes around the basket. He uses his physicality and is able to get players into foul trouble while making life easier for the Knicks every time he gets into the paint off the dribble, so that is on the mind of the Sixers and coach Nick Nurse.

"He’s a great player," said Nurse. "He’s a great scorer. A great clutch player, all that stuff. The biggest thing is you wanna make him work for his buckets, right? So that’s always where we start with all of these guys. Those guys last series, it’s where we start, and then we start thinking about throwing different matchups at him so he just doesn’t get the same look. Each guy is gonna guard him and give him a different look."

The Sixers will throw a number of great defenders at him as they can lean on Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. in the starting lineup as well as guys like Quentin Grimes off the bench. Either way, the Sixers will look to make life tough on Brunson as well as in the pick-and-roll.